


The perks of saving the world

by AlexewithanE



Series: The Sorenson siblings go to college. What can possibly go wrong? [1]
Category: Fablehaven Series - Brandon Mull
Genre: Fluff (kind of?), Gen, Kendra is in college, So do a bunch of magical creatures she never met in her life, Warren is a good cousin, Warren looks out for Kendra, and moved to the other side of the country, kendra is famous
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-14 01:29:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29535471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexewithanE/pseuds/AlexewithanE
Summary: Kendra clearly underestimated the amount of magical creature she would meet outside of Fablehaven. She already knew it was a thing, since the hobgoblin who impersonated a student at her school a few years back, but she had been under the impression that these kinds of incidents were rare.Boy, how wrong had she been.***Satyrs and fairies visit Kendra's workplace and follow her around in the streets. She starts being a bit concerned for her own safety, so she calls Warren to the rescue.
Relationships: Warren Burgess & Kendra Sorenson
Series: The Sorenson siblings go to college. What can possibly go wrong? [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2195928
Comments: 7
Kudos: 12





	The perks of saving the world

**Author's Note:**

> I read the books in french, so a few terms might be wrong (I basically only know that "réserves" are "preserves", for the rest, I just took an educated guess). Don't hesitate to correct me!

Kendra, after being home schooled in high school, decided to go back to physical, face-to-face classes for college. She moved to the other side of the country, just to make sure she wouldn’t meet anyone who could recognize her and rented an apartment with two strangers (Gabi and Simon) who became her closest friends in the normal world. She felt a bit homesick at first, and life became boring, what with the habit of saving the world once a month. Suddenly, she had to complete her homework at the due time (she didn’t have any good excuses anymore as to why she would submit a paper one or two days late and her teachers would probably not believe her if she told them about the goblin causing trouble in her neighborhood) and, worst of all, she had to find a job.  
  
Don’t get her wrong, she worked hard and did her best to succeed (and she did, for the most part), but the only job she could find was at a local convenience store, as a cashier. Kendra wouldn’t have any trouble with it, in other circumstances, but she clearly underestimated the amount of magical creature she would meet outside of Fablehaven—of any preserve, really. She already knew it was a thing, since the hobgoblin who impersonated a student at her school a few years back, but she had been under the impression that these kinds of incidents were rare. Boy, how wrong had she been.  
  
She worked weekly shifts, every Friday and Saturday night, and after a month at the job, she had to get used to hourly visits by any kind of magical creatures. The first one had been a satyr, as weird as that might sound. He had a beard going down his bare chest and two small horn coming out of his blond curls. He came in as if it were a normal occurrence and he shopped there regularly. Which turned out to be the case. Her coworker welcomed him: “Hey there, Mike, looking for something in particular?”  
  
“Just a bag of chips and a pack AA battery”, he said.  
  
They then proceeded to keep the conversation going with trivialities, all the while Kendra could only stare at satyr, baffled. When he turned around and saw her, he seemed as shocked to see her, and she suddenly remembered her glow, which pretty much displayed her identity to every magical being who could see it. She felt silly at forgetting such a recognizable trait about herself, but spending more time with normal humans, she sometimes forgot about this whole other world she was a part of.  
  
“I know you”, said the satyr. “You’re…”  
  
“I think you’re confusing me with someone else,” she interrupted. “I have… a very common face.”  
  
He frowned and his eyes left hers to move around her head. She understood he was pointing at her glow, but she pinched her lips and shook her head slightly, hoping he would get the hint. Luckily, he did, because the coworker seemed suspicious.  
“You’re right,” he finally said, “Sorry, my mistake.”  
  
“No problem,” she answered with a sweet smile. “Now, what were you saying about batteries? They are right over there.”  
  
She hoped for it to be an isolated event. Unfortunately, thanks to the Sorensen luck, it was not. The day after, a swarm of fairies came in. As soon as they recognized her, they started to laugh, pointing at her and making fun of her. Kendra rolled her eyes. She could hear their jabs from behind the counter: “Little miss perfect, working! How low of her,” mocked a green fairy with dragonfly wings. “If our Queen saw her now, in this ridiculous uniform, she’d probably take back her powers. She is a lot less pretty now, isn’t she!”  
  
“What the— “, started her coworker, “who let the door open?” He took a broom and swept the air, trying to scare away the fairies, which probably looked like bugs to him. Kendra snorted and didn’t lift a finger when the small creatures were evacuated from the store in a fay of indignant protests.  
  
And it just kept going after that, more and more often, until her manager asked her if she was responsible for the amount of people coming in and leaving without buying anything. She could only shrug, feeling slightly guilty and quite annoyed as well.  
  
It came to a point where people followed her outside of her job. She went out for a walk at night and a few brownies would come out of the underground to see her walk by. One time, she even thought to have seen a centaur around the corner, waiting for her, even though it seemed out of character for a centaur to go all fanboy on her. At least, that’s what she assumed was happening. Call her self-absorbed, but it wouldn’t be the first time. How many times had people recognize her since the whole end-of-the-world debacle? She even signed an autograph once, when Bracken brough her to the fairy kingdom. Even though she was usually on the receiving end of jealousy and petty insults on those visits, there were still quite a few who admired her exploits. You couldn’t blame her for making assumptions.  
  
It became unbearable a few weeks later, though, when it happened inside of her apartment. Someone knocked at the door. Her roommate, Gabrielle, went to answer. “Kendra, it’s for you!” She didn’t specify, but Kendra assumed it was a friend, maybe a surprise visit from Seth or Warren. She didn’t recognize the woman entering the apartment and she automatically braced herself for an impromptu fight.  
  
“Hi Kendra,” said the woman. “I’m Francine. I heard you were living around here and I was passing by, so I thought I would pay you a little visit.”  
  
Kendra waited for Gabi to leave the room to speak. “Who are you?”  
  
Francine raised an eyebrow. “You seem scared.”  
  
“I’m not scared, but the fact that a stranger not only knows my name but also my address makes me a bit… wary.”  
  
“That’s reasonable,” accepted the woman. “I’m sorry for this abrupt meeting, but I heard so much about you and, well, I was curious to see what all the fuss is about.”  
  
“You heard about me. You’re from the… other world.”  
“Narcoblix,” she said as if it explained everything. “Anyway, I just wanted to say hi. Have a nice day!”  
  
And she left, just like that.  
  
On edge, Kendra called Warren right away. She had waited long enough as it is. She probably should have said something to her grandfather, but she’d thought she could handle the situation. Except, people knew where she lived now. This was getting out of hands.  
  
“Hey, Kendra!”  
  
“Warren, I think something is wrong.”  
  
The man lost his cheery behavior. “What is it?”  
  
She explained to him what happened from the beginning and he agreed it was quite peculiar for so many creatures to pass by her workplace. When she told him about the Narcoblix, though, he seemed genuinely worried.  
  
“It’s not usual for blixes to pay you a random visit. They either work for someone or have an ulterior motive.”  
  
“That’s nice for Vanessa,” noted Kendra.  
  
“Well, it’s different, because she knows us. If this Francine was a long-lost friend of yours, I wouldn’t pay it a second thought. But you said you never saw her before?”  
  
“No.”  
  
“Then, she must have had something in mind. I’m coming over, don’t leave your place until I’m there.”  
  
“Thanks, Warren, I appreciate it.”  
  
“Of course.”  
  
The sun had set a few hours earlier when Warren knocked at the door.  
  
“Did anyone else come to see you?” he asked after a big bear hug. She offered him a drink and they settled on the couch.  
  
“No, or if they did, I wasn’t aware of it. Brownies are pretty small, so I guess I wouldn’t see them if they tried to infiltrate the apartment.”  
  
“I don’t think brownies would feel concerned enough about humans to get involve with this.”  
  
“I saw a few of them peaking out of the sewers, once,” she reminded him.  
Warren frowned. “This whole thing is so…” He ran his hands over his face. “You said something about a centaur. This is what strikes me as weirdest in this story, apart from the narcoblix. If a satyr leaked the information of your workplace, the last one to listen to this kind of gossip would be a centaur. They are normally so out of touch with other people’s affairs.”  
  
Kendra bit her lips. “Do you think… maybe they’re mad at me. Maybe I did something offensive and they want me to pay for it.”  
  
Warren rolled his eyes, as if she’d said the most ridiculous thing. “Kendra, everyone loves you. Don’t be silly.”  
  
“Well, they obviously don’t!” she argued. “Or they love me too much, which is not necessarily better. I don’t want my every move to be spied on, it’s starting to creep me out, to be honest.”  
  
Warren softened. “We’ll figure it out,” he said, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Is it okay if I sleep on the couch? I’m tired from driving all night.”  
  
Kendra suddenly realized it was nearing four in the morning. “I am so sorry! I didn’t mean to make you cross the country on such a short notice.”  
  
“Hey, don’t mention it.” He smiled and kissed her forehead.  
  
Warren stayed for approximately a week. The first morning was hilarious, when Gabrielle and Simon woke up to find a stranger in their kitchen. Kendra had talked about her family before, but they had only met Seth and her parents. After the presentations, Kendra took upon herself to calm down both of her roommates who happened to find Warren quite attractive. “First of all, he’s like a decade older than you,” she argued, leaving out the fact that she, at fifteen, had a small crush on him too, “and second of all, he’s in a relationship.” Kendra secretly hoped Warren didn’t overhear this conversation or his head would grow like a birthday balloon, and it was already big enough as it was.  
  
During the first few days, Warren escorted Kendra everywhere she went: to school, to her friends’ place, to work. No one accosted them, maybe scared away by his presence. Eventually, it seemed as though they got used to him and he could finally see what Kendra had been talking about.  
  
“I see what you mean,” he admitted when they came back from a fast-food restaurant. “I guess it does become irritating after a while.”  
  
“Right?” she exclaimed. “It’s like they have no sense of boundaries.”  
  
He nodded, licking the salt off his fingertips after eating fries. “To be fair, they probably don’t, since they live outside the preserves, without rules and treaties. Still, I don’t think they are necessarily threatening,” he said. “Like, I understand it makes you feel uncomfortable, and we’re going to find a way to put a stop to it, don’t worry, but I don’t think you should be scared.”  
  
“What makes you say that?”  
  
Warren looked thoughtful for a second before answering. “The thing is,” he began “you’re quite the celebrity amongst the magical world. Don’t make that face, it’s true, whether you like it or not. And, as I told you before, you have a knack for making people like you. You’re just too adorable for anyone to hate you, I swear.”  
  
She grunted. “Be serious.”  
  
“I am!” he laughed. “But really, from what I’ve seen this week, they seem almost… concerned about you.”  
  
She frowned. “Concerned?”  
  
He nodded. “It’s almost as if they’re trying to look out for you.”  
  
Kendra blinked. Well, she certainly hadn’t seen it that way. “It’s still intrusive,” she countered.  
  
“Oh, I agree. I said they were trying, not succeeding.”  
  
She couldn’t help but huff a laugh. “So, what, I have a private guard of magical beings just following me around? Because I’m famous? That doesn’t sound very realistic.”  
  
Warren rolled he eyes. “Dude, you’re famous for saving the world. It is realistic. Maybe they just want to repay the favor.”  
  
Kendra tried to digest that information and make sense of it. After a few minutes of silence, she found, with this new perspective, that she could see what Warren was talking about. Even though they were a bit intrusive, especially Francine (and Mike the satyr who provoked this whole thing by divulging her location), no one ever tried to hurt her. Most of them stayed away, really, just watching her live her life. Somehow, this new knowledge warmed her heart.  
  
“Sorry for making you drive all the way for this,” she apologized the next morning, while he packed his bag.  
  
“It’s what family is for. I’ll talk to Stan about this, and to Bracken as well. They’ll find a way to make them stay away from you. Is that all right?”  
  
She had spent the night thinking about it. “Actually,” she started as they went out where he parked his car, “maybe just tell them to, like, tone it down? But they don’t have to go away.”  
  
“Yeah?” he said, surprised.  
  
“I mean, as long as no one come into my apartment anymore. Or disturb me at work. Otherwise, I don’t really mind.”  
  
He grinned. “Alright, then. See you, cousin!” She waved at him as he drove away.  
  
The following day, she smiled and waved at every magical creature she crossed in the street.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic in English. If you have any advice or constructive critique to make, be sure to leave a comment! I'll probably write more about Kendra in college, and eventually about Seth too, because I like seeing them older and amongst normal people. If you have a suggestion, don't hesitate!  
> PS: for those who read Après, my series of one shots in french, yes, Simon is the same original character here. I'll probably bring him back in every non-magical setting I'll write if I need an original character. It's easier than making one up on the spot every time!


End file.
